The quarterback the Vikings brought in as a safety net has sparked a team dilemma while helping them look like Super Bowl contenders

Keenum has instead started seven games because of
injuries and has played well while leading the team to a 5-2
record in those games.

With Bridgewater healthy, there is a debate about
whether he should play over Keenum, but Keenum's performance is
making it hard to bench him.

The Minnesota Vikings are on a six-game winning streak and
sitting in a tie for second in the NFC at 8-2.

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While the Vikings remain one the stingiest defensive teams in the
NFL, they've received an unexpected boost from backup quarterback
Case Keenum, who was thrust into the starting position and has
shown no sings of handing it back.

Keenum signed a one-year deal with the Vikings this offseason
after two mediocre seasons with the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams.
Keenum figured to play backup to Sam Bradford and maybe even
backup to fourth-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who was on
the mend from a knee injury.

When Bradford got hurt after Week 1, Keenum was put into the
starting lineup and played unremarkably. The Vikings went 1-2
while he threw three touchdowns and no interceptions. Bradford
returned prematurely in Week 5, got yanked from the lineup while
clearly still hurt, and Keenum took over again.

Since then, Keenum has been on fire, and the Vikings haven't
lost. In six games, Keenum has thrown for an average of 259 yards
per game, completed 66% of his passes with eight touchdowns and
five interceptions. None of those numbers are mind-boggling
stats, but Keenum has been effective and the Vikings have
survived injuries on both sides of the ball.

In fact, Keenum has been effective enough that the Vikings have
delayed the return of Bridgewater, who is now healthy enough to
play. Bridgewater looked like the future of the team before his
injury, and presumably, the team would like to see how he looks
after a nearly two-year absence. But even Vikings coach Mike
Zimmer said the team can't just pull Keenum for no reason.

"It's going to be hard to yank him out of there right now,"
Zimmer said of Keenym. "He's playing good.

"I still have really high hopes for Teddy. You know a lot
of things happen throughout the course of this season, so we'll
just see how it goes."

With Bridgewater breathing down his neck, Keenum has only
elevated his play against solid competition. He out-dueled Kirk
Cousins in Washington, throwing a career-high four touchdowns to
lead Minnesota to the win, and in Week 11, he beat his successor
with the Rams, 2016 No. 1 pick Jared Goff.

Still, Keenum seems like a multi-interception day away from
losing his job. With an elite defense and a run game that's been
buoyed by Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon, the Vikings
rightfully have deep playoff aspirations. Between Bridgewater and
Keenum, the team wants to know who can better lead them deep.

The debate is going to continue as long as both are healthy, but
at the moment, it's difficult to take a quarterback leading the
team to wins out of the game in Keenum.